


Hope For the Lost

by flight_of_the_crows, shadowswithineverything



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Adult Midoriya Izuku, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Detective Midoriya Izuku, Gen, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Other, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Potential Major Spoilers, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Suicide Attempt, Trans Fujisaki Chihiro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26181958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flight_of_the_crows/pseuds/flight_of_the_crows, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowswithineverything/pseuds/shadowswithineverything
Summary: Raccoon Detective Izuku Midoriya thought this would be a complicated case, but if anyone told him he was going to talk five children out of mass suicide for his start to it, he'd have laughed in their face. But given that was exactly what happened and there were MANY more things to unravel, Izuku couldn't laugh anymore.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. Raccoon Drives to Towa City, Adopts Five Kids, and Gets a Partner He Hates. More at 11.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shadowswithineverything: Tumblr is shadowswithineverything.tumblr.com if anyone wants to DM me. And let me just say I absolutely LOVE doing this fic GFVHGVB!!

Izuku wasn’t sure how to feel about cases that took him far away from home. While they had a good chance of taking him away from Hero Society, he didn’t quite like being away from the few people he _actually_ cared about, like Tsukauchi and Fuyumi. ‘And Eraserhead, despite being a Hero’, Izuku thought bitterly. ‘Though it probably helps that he was Underground and that he’s retired.’ Welp, back to the case he was driving his horrible, clunky, police car towards.

The case was an unusual one; it was a massacre that took the lives of Hope’s Peak Academy’s entire Student Council except for the Student Council President Sōshun Murasame. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and judging from what he’d read, all of the participants were supposedly in _full_ control of themselves... _as if_. There was no obvious evidence linking a quirk to the tragedy, but there were other strange things about it. For example, for no apparent reason, the students had been entirely isolated from the outside world.

If Izuku had to guess, based on the meager evidence they had collected -if they weren’t being controlled, which was still a possibility- the massacre started with at least some of them being blackmailed. The blackmail could’ve been any number of things, but it was most likely embarrassing or horrifying information about the victims or their families. The disaster dominoes fell from there, and the deaths of nearly everyone in the Council were assured.

Suspiciously, as if to confirm this, a mass email was released to dozens of companies around Japan, painting one of the event’s two survivors -the product of the Academy’s secret ‘Izuru Kamukura Project’, which was only just revealed in that email- as the sole killer. Izuku wasn’t sure who had masterminded the killings, but he had a strong feeling it wasn’t him or the also trapped president; the massacre's other survivor.  
  
It was an unfortunate fact of life that people tended to assume those who couldn’t or didn’t feel the way they did would almost assuredly become murderers, mass murderers, and some of the worst people in this world in general. They almost always failed to see past what they wanted to see.

Izuku took a moment to breathe and marvel at just how _good_ it felt to be able to talk to himself without reproach. Who said it didn’t pay to be alone?

Back to the case, Hope’s Peak’s darkest secrets were being revealed and used against them, with more falsehoods being mixed in to sweeten the taste of the trap. It was a PR nightmare. The people who put their money into the elitist institution were no doubt buying right into it and becoming part of a larger plan Izuku couldn’t see. But judging from the tear-stained faces of more than a few of the students, what was clear about said plan was that it involved driving people to despair and murder on a large scale, with Hope’s Peak being the tipping point. ‘Now if only the Raccoon Detective Izuku Midoriya could gather the necessary evidence to _prove this_ and arrest the perpetrators, he’d be on his way back home.’ Izuku thought to himself.

Izuku was about to drive right past the Hope’s Peak Elementary School, glancing at five people who just finished walking towards the roof as he drove past- ‘Wait.’ Izuku thought. Call him paranoid, but something didn’t seem right about this. Izuku had learned, over the years, to trust his gut feelings. They seldom lead him astray. So Izuku turned his shitty car around, drove right to the Elementary School’s nearest entrance, hopped out of his car, and made his way into the school.  
  
The door, thankfully, was unlocked and swung open with ease. The interior was fairly mundane. Dull green floors and faded white walls stretched out into the distance, with sliding doors leading into the various classrooms. There was nothing out of place, yet oddly, it still made a chill run down his spine. Izuku ran through the school until he reached a set of stairs with an elevator next to it.

He ran up the stairs two at a time instead of taking the elevator. While the elevator would be easier, they could only go so fast, and he had a _horrible_ feeling about this. He hoped he was just being over-dramatic, but he didn’t want to take that chance.  
  
He burst through the door to the roof, huffing, and puffing. Standing at the edge of the building, staring at him with wide eyes, were five children. Five _young_ children, not even middle school age. One of them was even in a wheelchair. His heart sank.

Izuku thought that it was rather ironic that he was in the position of talking down not just one person, but five, from suicide. He had undoubtedly thought of pitching himself off of a roof enough times but seeing someone else -let alone five elementary school kids- right on the cusp of it made his throat close up. He had no idea what to say, but he figured he’d better start talking soon.

“Hey,” he began, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible, “Why don’t you kids come down with me?”

One of the kids stepped forward until he stood protectively in front of the others. He had blue hair and a pair of vibrant blue eyes that were pinning Izuku with a nasty glare. Had Izuku been a lesser man, he might’ve withered in the face of such unbridled _hatred_. Pity stabbed through Izuku’s heart instead; no child should wear that expression on their face.

“Don’t come any closer!” he shouted. "We’ll jump!”

Izuku worried, his bottom lip between his teeth, but he didn’t move. Was there a protocol for convincing someone not to kill themselves? What the hell was he supposed to say? ‘I wish Fuyumi were here,’ he thought mournfully. She was much better at dealing with emotions than he was.

Izuku thought he heard the blue-haired kid mutter something along the lines of _“Of course it was one of you that found us…”._ But it was hard to tell over the scream of the wind. 

Blue hair -as dubbed in his internal monologue- pointed an accusing finger at him, posture rigid and tense. “We _hate_ adults like you; you use us, you _hurt_ us, you’re all **poison** and we’d rather **_die_ ** than live in a world with you in it!”

Izuku swallowed, continuing to keep his hands up. He had to choose his next words very carefully. “If it helps any, I hate adults like myself as well.” This seemed to surprise blue-hair. Izuku took advantage of this to continue unhindered. “There are a few things that set me apart from the rest, though. I’m Quirkless. Surprising, right? It’s rare in my generation.” None of the kids spoke, and Izuku couldn’t read any of their expressions. It was impossible to tell whether or not this was working.  
  
“I was bullied for years. For my quirklessness, for my dreams… None of the adults around me ever noticed, even when I came home with bruises. Some of them even joined in on it. Even heroes told me to give up. I know what it feels like to be failed by the ones that were supposed to protect me.” His voice warbled slightly, and he had to pause to regain his composure. He hadn’t talked about this even to his own family, let alone a bunch of kids he didn’t know. If it got them all down safely from this roof, though? It would be worth it. Even if it was painful. “It got better, eventually. Even when I was in the deepest slump of my life in high school, the one I thought I’d never make it out of alive, it got better. Please, let me help you.” 

Izuku held out his hand, hoping, praying, that one of them would accept it. If he got one of them off of this roof, the others might follow after. The child in the wheelchair rolled forward around blue-hair and took his larger, scarred, hand in hers. The girl looked at the others and nodded at them, and they stepped away from the edge of the roof. Izuku let out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. 

Izuku spent the next twenty or so minutes herding the five children into the elevator and into his car. When he was sitting in his front seat, with his hands on his worn steering wheel, he finally let himself relax.

That, Izuku decided, was one of the most stressful things he had experienced in his twenty-something years of life. He had heard, somewhere, that stress turned hair grey. If that was true, he probably had fifty more grey hairs than he had before driving out. He now had a bunch of children and a wheelchair crammed into his tiny car. It wasn’t ideal, but he doubted they would respond very well to him calling a few of his police buddies over to help. Izuku took a moment to stare blankly out his cracked car’s window and wonder just what the hell he had gotten himself into. 

“So,” he begins, breaking the tense silence. “My name is Izuku Midoriya. Can you tell me your names?” He paused, before continuing: “You don’t have to tell me your full names if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Another tense silence. Izuku resisted the urge to sigh, because as he said the kids didn’t need to give him their names. He was just about to put his foot on the ignition and take the kids out of this cursed city when one of them piped up.

“Monaca Towa.” She said; it was the pickle-haired wheelchair kid. She smiled, but if there was any actual joy behind it, Izuku couldn’t tell. The voice didn’t help; it seemed that Monaca was interested in him, but it was as though she was playing some sort of game in her mind and wasn’t fully present like the others. “You asked for Monaca’s name, Midoriya-san, so Monaca gave it to you,” Monaca said further. “If it makes you feel better, Monaca’s Quirkless, too, and she’s never met a Quirkless adult before.” This was an attempt to establish a connection, and honestly sad if what Monaca was saying was true, but Izuku couldn’t help but feel like she also saw him as some unknowable yet curious _thing_ underneath a microscope. She was an odd duck for sure, and this would be true even if she _wasn’t_ speaking in the third person.

Her classmates, on the other hand, were giving her suspicious looks, as though they were trying to say “Are you sure? He’s still an adult.”

In any case, he had to say something - ‘Wait, Monaca _Towa_ ? From the Towa Group; the ones that _built_ this city, _named it after themselves_ , and control it even now?’ Izuku shook his head, that was something to think about later.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Towa-san. And I hope all of you kids can find someone who loves you all for who you are.”

Most of the other kids looked varying degrees of scared, while Monaca chuckled and tilted her head. “That’s funny, Midoriya-san.” Monaca said quizzically. “I thought we already did.”

Izuku didn’t know what to say to that, or how to feel about it. He didn’t. All he could do was mutter a barely audible “Maybe.” and drive the hell out of this city. Luckily, he knew just the place to drop the kids off at. ‘Now to come up with an explanation...’ Izuku thought.

“What is this?” Naomasa Tsukauchi asked Izuku. “You came back here in your tiny police car, with five suicidal children and a wheelchair from another city in tow. You didn’t tell anyone, not even me. You didn’t take them to any kind of orphanage, or try to contact their parents. And you expect me to just take in these kids you practically kidnapped while you just go home for the night!?”

Izuku had the decency to look sheepish. “Weeelll… maybe? Look, I’m tired, I can’t go back to Towa City right now because it’s too far away, and I have _no_ idea how to raise children.” Izuku clasped his hands together in prayer. “Pleeeeaaase? I’ll be able to deal with this tomorrow.”

If any of the kids in the car were screaming “One of us! One of us! One of us!” for whining, or calling Izuku a liar considering the possible contrast between what he told them and what was going on right now, either he didn’t hear them or it didn’t register…. 

Tsukauchi on the other hand looked like he’d swallowed a lemon, and then pinched his nose and schooled his face to appear professional… or as professional as he could, given it was the dead of night and he was in All Might pajamas. The first time this happened Tsukauchi swore Izuku to secrecy, and then assigned him a Hero partner for a week as revenge- ‘Wait.’ Izuku thought. “I’m getting the weirdest feeling of deja vu right now,” Izuku said, his face getting just a bit paler.

“Well, when you're right, you’re right,” Tsukauchi responded while walking back inside his house. “I’ll watch over your new charges tonight, but only tonight, do you understand me? And,” Tsukauchi said while walking back outside with a manilla folder, “you’re getting a new partner. And **_yes_ **, this one’s a Hero.”

“You _do_ know I hate Heroes, right?” Izuku tried to protest, but Tsukauchi’s evil grin told him it was to no avail.

“Consider this my revenge for the all-nighter you just dropped in my lap.” Tsukauchi said villainously. This was why the older detective had no gray hairs yet; he was **_great_ ** at getting back at the people who wronged him, much to Izuku’s dismay. “And hey, he’s Underground like Eraserhead was so this one shouldn’t be _too_ bad.”

Izuku could only tiredly read the contents of the folder while Tsukauchi schooled his face again -this time into a friendly smile- and went to go get the little kids in Izuku’s crappy police car. He was reasonably certain those brats would give him nightmares, but not so much about Tsukauchi given his experience. Izuku also had a feeling that this Hero might stick with him, as much as the mere thought made his skin crawl. “Hitoshi Shinso, huh?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shadowswithineverything: Next up is Detectives Tsukauchi and Kirigiri, and they have their work cut out for them.


	2. Detectives Tsukauchi and Kirigiri need a beer, an aspirin, and better coworkers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shadowswithineverything: Kyoko Kirigiri is introduced trying to find some secrets; some may be long-buried, some may be irrelevant, and some may be STRONGLY connected to present events. And Tsukauchi knows only the slightest bit more of how to take care of children than Izuku does, if that.

Naomasa had experienced many things during his time on the force, but this was a first. There seemed to be a lot of ‘firsts’, these days, and he would wager that they had started appearing when one Izuku Midoriya got ranked up from a police officer to a detective. The man was an enigma wrapped in an innocent expression and a head of fluffy green curls. He seemed to attract trouble wherever he went. 

Case in point, the five wary faces staring out across from him from his kitchen table. 

He was supposed to be done for the night, god damn it! He rubs his temples and lets out a weary sigh.

“Well, before I start dealing with… Whatever mess _that_ detective has dropped on me, have you kids eaten?”

All he receives in response are blank stares. Great. He glances at the clock, noting with irritation that it is far too late to order take out, which means he’ll have to _cook_ something, which means he’ll have to set foot in his kitchen, which means navigating the towering piles of ramen noodle cups and dishes littered everywhere.

Not helping matters is the questions all of them must have. “Are you a Hero?” one of them asks, and so it begins. This first question came from the red-haired child.

“No, I’m a Detective like the person who just dropped you all off with me,” Naomasa says while he’s cooking. “Why? Are you a fan?"

“Well, that and the All Might nightie you wore when you picked us up-dai!” The brat says, grinning from ear-to-ear.

Naomasa idly wonders how that former “Ultimate Detective” Kyoko Kirigiri is doing at her new task; the _unenviable_ position of basically being All for One’s interrogator.

\--

The halls of Tartarus were as cold and imposing as the building’s exterior. Every scrap of life had been banished from the building, leaving only sterile white walls, heavy-duty metal doors, and harsh fluorescent light. Even the inhabitants themselves were stiff and distant. Perhaps working in Japan’s top security prison got to them, after a while? 

Had Kyoko Kirigiri been more emotional even normally, she’d have been a bit scared by the prospect of the fact that she would be among the staff here. Perhaps having a more engaging purpose here helped a bit. And speaking of said engaging purpose, there he was now, through the shatterproof glass window, shredded head, straightjacket, slasher smile, and all. Being in the presence of the man known as All For One somehow felt a bit worse than being in Hell itself, but that could easily be remedied with her Quirk, and by playing the long game both of them were so accustomed to.

Kyoko stood patiently by the blast door as two of the security guards opened it. After some struggle, the two men managed to wrangle it open and step back. So, opening these doors was difficult for even those who were employed here? It made her wonder if these doors were ever supposed to open once they had been closed shut. Pesky doubts began to worm their way into her brain, but they were easily shut down. She stepped into the room, and the door _clanged_ shut behind her. Former Ultimate Detective Kyoko Kirigiri was face to face with All For One himself. 

“Well, well. A new visitor?” The Devil of Japan said. Apparently, he saw no point in introducing himself. “Are you another detective, come to interrogate me for secrets that probably don’t matter anymore? If so, you’re more courageous than the rest already.”

Kyoko couldn’t tell whether or not this apparent praise was sincere, and she did not care for it. “I’m certain you hold some secrets that very much _do_ matter, Shigaraki.” Kyoko said almost robotically. “My name is Kyoko Kirigiri. And my purpose here is, as you claim, to extract those secrets from you.”

All For One chuckled at that. It was rather derisive, probably in return for the lack of respect Kyoko had just shown to him. “Wonderful.” He said. “Did the last one finally get the life sucked out of him by this place? Did he just end it all himself? Tartarus is rather gloomy like that. Then again, perhaps the reason you’ve been put in here is that you may not have much life yourself. Is that intentional? The result of a Quirk, perhaps?” His grin widened. “I’m rather curious.”

Kyoko figured this would be the case, but it was still rather irritating that he was the one who got to ask the questions first. She needed to take some control back. “Be careful what you say to me because it could be taken as a confession, and I could have you killed next.” She said coldly.

“Next?” All for One said. “Something I said was probably what prompted that man to kill himself -or, as I said earlier, perhaps it was just the general feel of the place- but are you sure you’re not projecting onto me? Do you believe yourself to be the cause of someone else’s death, Detective?”

Kyoko had spent not ten minutes within this man’s presence and he was already trying to unnerve her. She could understand now, a small part of why this man had been imprisoned here. The questions, the blind stab in the dark, even the tone of his voice...

Unfortunately for All For One, however, Kyoko was not so easily put off. Her quirk was perfect for this job, after all. She responded with a neutral “Hm,” as she looked around at the empty room. She wouldn’t give him any more ammunition. Kyoko wasn’t sure what was cooking in that twisted brain of his, but it couldn’t be anything good. “Not much in the way of decoration, here, is there?” She said.

If All For One was surprised by Kyoko's tenacity, he gave no outward signs of it. “It is rather barren, isn’t it? The detriments of being ‘one evil bastard’, I suppose. The guards here really do have colorful vocabularies.” 

“Then it’s good for you to know they’re not _completely_ lifeless, isn’t it?” Kyoko said.

“Quite so, but you’re a breath of fresh air yourself.” All For One fired back. “I assume there’s something more than that notepad in your bag?”

Kyoko knew this conversation was going nowhere fast, and expected as much, so she decided to try something new; she brought out a chessboard. It was a slight yet potentially dangerous concession, but Kyoko figured from the failures of all the detectives before her that playing this type of game with the monster before her was as good a way as any to get something tangible out of him. Considering All For One noted the chessboard in the first place, he more than likely knew that she was going to try this seconds after she walked in.

For lack of anywhere else to put it, Kyoko simply set the chess board on the ground, retrieving the pieces from her small black bag and setting them up in their respective places. She angled the board so the black pieces were facing All For One; she would go first. Kyoko sat down on her side of the board -the floors were clean anyway, almost painfully so- and returned her gaze to her opponent.  
  
“Why don’t we play a game, Shigaraki? I’m sure it’s dull sitting in an empty room like this twenty-four seven, tied up in a straightjacket with no way to escape.” 

“I assume there’s a catch here, no?”  
  
“I want to make a bargain with you. We’ll ask each other a single question each. The victor of the matches may ask one additional question, as a courtesy. These questions can include information about current events or… past ones. For myself, I can inform you of what is happening outside of this cell, which I presume you’re interested in. As for you, well… you already know what **_I’m_ ** interested in.”

All For One deliberated this for one or two minutes that went by like an eternity, and then he gave his answer with his signature shark-tooth smile. “I accept.”

Kyoko then made the first move. “Pawn to c4, huh? Going for the center from the flank, allowing flexibility and the use of your other pieces as the flow of the game dictates. Rather, passive-aggressive, overall. But of course, you give something up; your extra tempo.” All For One’s grin widened again. “Interesting; it goes nicely with your personality and actions, or at least what you’ve shown me so far.” With that, All For One called for Kyoko to move his King's Pawn to e5.

\-- 

“Hey, HEY! The food’s burning!” One of the kids cries in alarm, causing Naomasa to startle out of his diverging train of thought. He quickly turns down the heat on his gas stove, using a wooden utensil to poke at the slightly charred remains of the Mac and Cheese he had been cooking.  
  
Oops. This is why he mostly eats microwave dinners, ramen, and takeout. ‘OK,’ Naomasa thinks, ‘time to heat up more ramen, then.’ The thought finished, Naomasa goes to do exactly that when another kid pipes up with yet another question. “W-what’s going to happen to us?” The kid in the brown patchwork mask asks.

Naomasa sighs, and decides to give the kids an honest answer. “Beyond giving you back to my younger coworker tomorrow, I sincerely have no idea. Obviously, leaving any of you alone is a bad idea, and putting any of you in an orphanage seems out of the question, too.”

“Does he have adorbs stuff at least?” The pink Mutant “devil” kid asks hopefully.

Naomasa shrugs as he puts the ramen in his microwave. “He found a rabid raccoon and kept it as a pet. I’m pretty sure he got it vaccinated at least?” Pinky’s shoulders slump at that. “You’d have to see for yourself otherwise, though knowing him he’d probably buy you whatever you want; he’s got a soft spot for kids.”

The girl looked about ready to squee until Naomasa said “soft spot”. “What kind of… soft spot?” she says, looking scared, with her tail reflecting her mood by dropping to the floor. The other children look far more wary.

Naomasa realizes he’s said something potentially very dangerous here -and starts to wish he had a hammer and a target, but he doesn’t- so he decides to put up the placating hands and backtrack. “Nonononono, not in any way you’re thinking. A _normal_ soft spot; Raccoon buys things for kids, he gives them money when they need it or even just ask, he listens to what they have to say. _That_ kind of treatment.”

He turns his attention away from the slowly turning ramen cup in the microwave and searches around for a pen and paper. He scribbles his name and his number on the paper and slides it across the table. “If you need anything, or you feel worried, feel free to call me, okay?”

The kids look speechless, so Naomasa goes to get the ramen he’d heated up. “Ramen’s done!” He says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shadowswithineverything: And there you have it; Tsukauchi dodges a bullet and Kirigiri is introduced trying to interrogate All For One. For those who don't know, she uses no honorifics because she doesn't respect him. And she's using All For One's apparent last name (Major Spoilers) simply because she's making it clear to herself and to him that he is just another PERSON! 
> 
> And for anyone not interested in the brief Chess babble, feel free to just ignore it. For anyone who IS, I have a few links for you:
> 
> https://www.thechesswebsite.com/english-opening/
> 
> http://www.chessdom.com/caruanas-approach-to-1-c4-e5-explained-in-an-opening-database-by-gm-boris-avrukh/
> 
> https://www.chess.com/article/view/english-opening-chess
> 
> Also, please leave the matter of rabid raccoons to people who know what they're doing. Izuku's circumstances with his pet raccoon are likely VERY unrealistic, even if he saved him.
> 
> For ages, Kirigiri, like Izuku, is in her early-to-mid-20's here.


End file.
